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Matt Gaetz files motion to oust Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker over Bipartisan compromise
Republican congressman Matt Gaetz files motion to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after he strikes a deal with Democrats to prevent a government shutdown.
Matt Gaetz, a Republican congressman from Florida and a vocal critic of Kevin McCarthy, has filed a motion to remove the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The move comes after McCarthy struck a deal with Democrats to prevent a government shutdown.
Gaetz announced his resolution to declare the Speaker’s office vacant late on Monday, triggering a vote within two days, or by Wednesday evening, to decide McCarthy’s fate. It is only the third time in US history that such a motion has been filed against a Speaker.
The relationship between the two men has been tense for months, and Gaetz has accused McCarthy of being too soft on Democrats. McCarthy, a congressman from California, was elected Speaker in January after a record 15 rounds of voting, with Gaetz abstaining from the final ballot.
But Gaetz ramped up his pressure on McCarthy over the weekend, after McCarthy reached a bipartisan agreement to keep the government funded at current levels until mid-November. The deal was accepted by House Democrats, even though it did not include extra aid for Ukraine.
The compromise angered many Republicans, who voted against it. On Friday, 21 Republican rebels, including Gaetz, rejected a previous proposal from McCarthy that included steep budget cuts, a key demand of Democrats.
On Saturday, 90 Republicans, including Gaetz, opposed the final deal that McCarthy negotiated with Democrats.
Gaetz said McCarthy deserved to be punished for working with Democrats. But he may not have enough support from his own party to oust McCarthy. Some of the rebels who voted against the funding deal, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hardline Republican congresswoman from Georgia, have said they do not want to remove McCarthy.
McCarthy and his allies have said they are confident he will survive the challenge. Shortly after Gaetz’s motion, McCarthy tweeted: “Bring it on.”
But McCarthy faces a tight vote, as Republicans have only a slim majority in the House. He will need some Democrats to vote for him if he wants to keep his post.
The Democratic leadership has not said how it will instruct its members to vote. But some Democrats have said they will not help McCarthy.
Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic congresswoman from Washington state and the influential head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has said her group would not “save McCarthy”.
But other Democrats have said they will vote against Gaetz’s motion. Steve Cohen, a Democratic congressman from Tennessee, told Axios that McCarthy “did the right thing…and I’ll definitely vote not to vacate. I expect a good number of Democrats will as well.”
